Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore, an upper-class eighteenth-century eccentric, has been famous chiefly as a marital victim. But her writings (both her tragedy and her highly imaginative autobiography) reflect some literary skill, as well as a highly unusual cast of mind.

Milestones

24 February 1749 Mary Eleanor Bowes (later Countess of Strathmore) was born at Gibside House near Gateshead in County Durham, a sixteenth-century family house. She remained an only child.